Apoptosis
by Rapunzel4
Summary: Something strange is going on with Heero, and Duo is determined to find out what it is.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Most people can come up with amusing, original ways to write their disclaimer. Well, I am not most people, so I'll keep it simple. I don't own the concept of Gundam Wing or any of its characters. Just the mere idea that I might be making money doing this is laughable.  
  
Warnings: shounen ai, angst, violence  
  
Author's Ramblings: This entire thing was started by one word in my biology text book. How sad is that?  
  
Apoptosis By Rapunzel  
  
Prologue  
  
Gunfire and explosions stretched as far as the eye could see. Smoke drifted on the battlefield, making it more difficult for Duo Maxwell to see incoming mobile suits. Swearing, he switched on the comm. link.  
  
"Hey, Heero!" he called.  
  
The familiar grunt of "Hn," was his only answer. Oddly, he found it slightly reassuring.  
  
"The visuals over here suck! Have you blown up that factory yet?"  
  
"Almost."  
  
As soon as the answer was given, a huge explosion lit the battlefield.  
  
"Done," came Heero's flat voice over the comm. link.  
  
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here!" So saying, he hacked through another mobile suit and headed in the direction of Wing and his partner.  
  
A sudden beep startled him. It was the beep that indicated an incoming message, usually text instructions of some kind. Automatically, his hand moved down to the control panel, and he hit the accept button before he realized that the sound hadn't come from Deathsythe. Heero must have received a message of some sort, and the sound had carried over the comm. link to him. But why would anyone send Heero a message in the middle of a battle?  
  
"Mission accepted," Heero said in a absolutely emotionless voice.  
  
A mission? But they were just finishing their current one.  
  
"Hey, Heero," he said. "What mission?"  
  
He was close enough now to see Wing through the smoke. It stood proud and tall, its hatch open. Duo suddenly froze. The hatch wasn't supposed to be open, but it was, and Heero was climbing out. He stood there with something in his hand.  
  
"Heero?" Duo's mouth went dry. Heero looked just like he had before. Duo shook his head violently. That couldn't be right; there was no need for it. "Heero, what the hell are you-"  
  
Heero's thumb pressed the device in his hand.  
  
Wing exploded with a blinding flash.  
  
tbc  
  
Author's Note: For those of you who are getting ready to kill me, just remember that if I killed him off this early, I wouldn't have a story. 


	2. Chapter 1

Part 1  
  
"Duo?"  
  
Duo looked up from his book to see Quatre in the doorway. "Are you sure you won't come out and eat dinner with the rest of us?" the blond asked.  
  
Wordlessly, Duo shook his head and went back to his book.  
  
"Please?" Quatre pleaded. His eyes strayed from Duo to Heero, lying on the bed with an IV in his arm, still unconscious. "I know you're fond of Heero, and you're worried about him, but really, half and hour away won't hurt him. He probably won't wake up for a while. If Trowa is right, and this does turn out like the last time he self-destructed, he could be out for a month or more. Please come out."  
  
Duo sighed. "Quatre, we have this discussion every night. I'm fine eating in here."  
  
Quatre was used to losing the argument, but the results never failed to disappoint him. "All right," he said sadly. "I'll get Trowa or Wufei to bring up a tray."  
  
Duo nodded his thanks and went back to his reading, pausing at occasional intervals to glance at Heero's unconscious form. The action was familiar to him now, almost automatic. He'd been doing it for almost a week now. A horrible week since the self-destruction, and Heero was still out cold. Since it was to dangerous to take him to the hospital, Duo had immediately called in all the other pilots, so that if he had a mission to go on, someone would be left to care for Heero. So far, nothing had come up, and until something did, Duo was reluctant to leave the room. Quatre, although he constantly entreated Duo to come out, allowed him to remain by supplying him with food and books.  
  
After finishing a chapter, Duo put his bookmark in the book and sat back to wait for his dinner. His eyes drifted and lingered on Heero. Whenever he looked at him now, one thought came to his mind.  
  
/Why?/  
  
~*~*~  
  
Duo jerked, sitting bolt upright abruptly and dropping his book. For a moment he waited in silence, thinking he might have been imagining things. Silence filled the room, and Duo was about to lean down and pick up his book when Heero stirred again.  
  
Jumping out of his chair, Duo hurried over to the bed. There he hovered, unsure of exactly what he should do. "Heero?" he called tentatively.  
  
Heero shifted and made a small noise of pain. His eyes opened and looked up at Duo with a hint of confusion in them. Finally he asked, "How long have I been unconscious?"  
  
"Two weeks. Fifteen days, to be exact. Better than last time," Duo replied.  
  
Heero nodded slightly as he took in the information, adding it to his current store. Duo gave him a moment more to get his bearings, then started in on his tirade.  
  
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Duo practically shouted. Perhaps it was not the best idea to blow up at an invalid who had been half dead for fifteen days, but Duo had been slowly stewing in his own terror for that length of time, and he was more than ready to take it out on the cause of that fear. "Of all the crazy, manic things to do, why self-destruct?! There was no need for it, absolutely none!"  
  
Heero glanced at him sharply, but made no reply. He lay back and let Duo's complaints wash over him.  
  
"How could you do that to me?!" Duo continued. "I thought you were dead." His voice trailed off, and for a moment he looked small and forlorn.  
  
"I'm sorry," Heero said very softly.  
  
That simple statement coming from Heero Yuy took most of the edge off of Duo's anger. His shoulders slumped and he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Sorry. I shouldn't have blown up at you like that. You're still recovering and all. I'm just tired. I'll go get one of the other guys to keep you company while I go hit the sack, 'kay?" He waited a moment to see if Heero had any objections, then, as Heero didn't voice any, he left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.  
  
Heero watched him leave, then turned his eyes upward to look at the ceiling. He lay like that, lost in thought, for a long time.  
  
tbc 


	3. Chapter 2

Thanks for everyone who commented on this story. It gives me encouragement to actually finish it (when my muse actually gets around to telling me the ending, that is). For those of you who are not yaoi fans, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I am an irredeemable 1x2 fan.  
  
Part 2  
  
Several hours of sleep and a good meal later, Duo felt up to taking the Heero watch again. When he walked into the room, he saw Quatre sitting by the bed keeping Heero company and entertaining him by giving him an update on Wing.  
  
"Oddly enough," Quatre was saying, "most of the computer systems survived. But the rest of the suit was blown to pieces and had to be replaced. I contacted Dr. J, and he says he'll expect you back on active duty as soon as Howard finishes repairing Wing."  
  
"Not if Wing gets repaired before you finish healing," Duo spoke up.  
  
Heero, who had been nodding silently while Quatre gave his report, started and looked at Duo sharply. "It can't be helped. If J-"  
  
"Geez," Duo interrupted him. "I can't believe you're ready to listen to that old coot and ignore your health! Well, I mean I know _you_ ignore your health, but he shouldn't! I'd almost swear he's trying to kill you!"  
  
Heero shot him a Look , but said nothing. Quatre, meanwhile, seeing a potential argument brewing, left the room as quietly as possible. Neither Heero nor Duo paid any attention to him.  
  
"Look, Heero," Duo said. "If you get any missions, I'll take care of them for you. Because you and I both know that if you go on a really dangerous assignment before you heal fully, you probably won't come back alive."  
  
"If I get a mission that specifically requires my skills." Heero trailed off and Duo exploded.  
  
"Godammit, Heero! I'm not gonna let you kill yourself! I'll steal your laptop if I have to!"  
  
"You wouldn't dare," Heero told him evenly.  
  
Duo took a deep breath to calm himself, and then let out a laugh he didn't feel. "Yeah. I guess not. That would make me the suicidal one, huh?" He fell silent for a moment. Then, because Heero obviously wasn't going to say anything, he asked, "Hey, Heero. What were you talking about when you said 'Mission accepted'?"  
  
"Nothing," Heero said.  
  
Somehow, Duo couldn't quite believe that.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"There she is," Howard said. "She's coming along nicely."  
  
"Great," Duo said, not mentioning the fact that most of them referred to their Gundams as male. "Heero'll be pleased."  
  
"The cockpit systems are all functional, and she's in one piece again. We just need to strengthen the connections at the joints, and she'll be ready to go."  
  
"That's good," Duo said. "Can I check the systems?"  
  
"Sure, go ahead." The mechanic waved him along.  
  
As he climbed into the cockpit, Duo felt a small twinge of guilt for what he was about to do. Still, it was for a good cause, and Heero didn't have to know. . .  
  
As he prepared to put the bug into the computer system, a sudden thought occurred to him. Quatre had said that the computer systems were largely undamaged. That meant that any files or messages received before the explosion should still be there, unless they had been deleted.  
  
It took a little effort, but Duo finally managed to find the message that Heero had received during the battle. Apparently, Heero had not had time to delete it. Duo opened it, and was surprised to find that it was extremely short. It simply said, "Execute Operation Apoptosis."  
  
"Operation Apoptosis?" Duo wondered aloud. He sat pondering as he put the virus in and waited for it to finish loading. "What the heck is apoptosis?"  
  
/If it's an acronym, I'm screwed. I'll never figure out what all those letters stand for. /  
  
"Duo? Hey, Duo!" Howard's voice brought him back to the world of reality. The loading was finished; the bug was in the system, and Duo was confident that it would take at least two days and a lot of cursing to get it out again.  
  
"Hey, Howard? I think we've got a problem. . ."  
  
tbc 


	4. Chapter 3

Part 3  
  
Heero was waiting for him when he returned to the safe house.  
  
The other pilot was sitting on the couch in what was, for him, a somewhat relaxed manner. Others might have described him by saying he was lounging, but Duo had trouble reconciling any word that suggested laziness or relaxation with his image of Heero. He had obviously been waiting for Duo's arrival, and he wasted no time in asking, "Well? What's the report on Wing?"  
  
"Well, it's gonna be a little while yet. The joints need to be worked on, and they found a glitch in the computer system."  
  
Sharp, blue eyes were drilling into him, and Duo felt himself starting to squirm. He wasn't sure if Heero suspected that he had tampered with the system, or whether this was just his guilty conscience tormenting him, but the look in the other pilot's eyes seemed accusing. He tried to comfort himself by thinking that he hadn't actually _lied_ to Heero. Yet.  
  
/It's for his own good,/ he told himself firmly. /Once Wing's finished, he'll start piloting again, even if he's not ready. It's not like I'm destroying Wing or anything; I'm just buying him time./  
  
"Well," he said quickly, "I'm gonna go upstairs and chill, 'kay? It's been a long day." And he was gone before Heero could answer. It was dumb to leave so quickly, and he knew it, but he had to escape that burning blue gaze. The guilt was back in force.  
  
Once he had reached his own room and was free for those blazing eyes, he calmed down a bit. The word apoptosis came back to his mind, and he considered simply asking Heero what it meant, but quickly dismissed that idea. Most likely, Heero would refuse to tell him, and then the other pilot would know that Duo had messed with his computer system. He couldn't ask the other pilots for fear Heero would hear. That left him on his own.  
  
~*~*~  
  
The small clock read midnight when Wufei finally went to bed and left Duo alone in the living room to conduct his search. It was not that he had anything to be ashamed of, but since he wasn't currently attending school, the other pilots might think it odd if he started randomly searching the dictionary.  
  
The problem was that the dictionary didn't help. He searched through the entire A section, questioning his memory of the spelling of the word the whole time, but for all his efforts, the word refused to be found. Finally, he gave up and put the dictionary back.  
  
As he stared around the room, considering where to look next, his eyes fell on a stack of books. Wufei, who was always looking for ways to go back to his scholarly way of life, had brought a pile of text books with him and left them in the living room. No doubt, some of them had come from high school libraries, and Wufei had simply never returned them, probably deeming it not worth the effort considering the short length of time he would be staying there.  
  
Duo brightened. If the word was obscure and technical, the dictionary wouldn't have it, but one of these books might. Grabbing the physics book, which was, in his opinion, the most logical place to start, Duo flipped through to the glossary.  
  
Two text books later, as he sat with a biology book on his lap, Duo found what he was looking for. His mouth went dry and his blood ran cold as he read the definition.  
  
Apoptosis: Programmed cell death brought about by signals that trigger the activation of a cascade of "suicide" proteins in the cells destined to die. (1)  
  
Cell suicide? Why would there be an operation named after that? Unless. . . Duo looked back at the page and mentally substituted "Heero" in place of the word "cell" in the first part of the definition.  
  
Suddenly, Heero's self-destruction made sense. The definition answered several questions, but raised several more. Why would Heero get orders to kill himself? Were such order so important that they warranted an operation code name? How could anyone claim to have that much power over another person? Why would Heero follow such orders?  
  
Duo suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Closing the book, he carefully replaced it in the stack. Then, turning off the lights, he headed up to bed. On the way past Heero's room, he stopped and looked in. The other pilot was sleeping soundly, unaware of his discovery. Duo tore himself away from the doorway and went to his own room, throwing himself on the bed. Sleep wasn't going to come easily that night.  
  
This definition comes out of to glossary in my biology text book, so I'd better site it properly. Campbell, Neil A., Jane B. Reece, and Lawrence G. Mitchell, Biology: Fifth Edition, Menlo Park: Addison Wesley Longman Inc., 1999 


	5. Chapter 4

Part 4  
  
The next few days were hell for Duo. He wanted to confront Heero about the program, about why he would implement it, to beg him never to self-destruct again, but if he did, Heero was sure to get angry with him for prying and touching his mobile suit. The fear of what would happen if he told Heero warred with the fear of what would happen if he didn't.  
  
Duo began to avoid Heero, since every time he looked at the other pilot, he felt a surge of fear, confusion, betrayal, and anger. Why he was angry he wasn't exactly sure, but whenever he looked at Heero, the heat crept up to his face, blurring his vision and clouding his thoughts, making him want to scream at the other pilot.  
  
Quatre noticed the tense atmosphere, but was at a loss as to what to do about it. He finally decided to grab the bull by the horns and face the issue head on.  
  
They were all sitting at the table for dinner (Quatre had insisted on dining as a group while they were all together) when he decided to bring up the matter. Duo sat glowering at his plate, staring out the window, looking anywhere but at Heero. "Duo," Quatre hesitantly addressed him. "Are you mad about something?"  
  
Duo glanced up at him. "Why, Quatre, whatever gave you that idea?" he asked bitterly.  
  
Trying hard not to be deflected by the sarcasm, Quatre forged on. "You just seem. . . tense, especially towards Heero."  
  
Duo made no reply. He went back to shoveling food in his mouth and glaring at the table as though it had grievously hurt him.  
  
Seeing that he wasn't going to get an answer that way, Quatre decided to take a stab in the dark. "Are you mad because J's been bothering you about Heero?"  
  
That got not only Duo's attention, but Heero's as well. "J's been contacting you?" Heero asked sharply.  
  
"Well, yes," Quatre said. "I sent him a message after I got here to tell him about your condition, since Duo wasn't in any state to remember to do it. He's been sending me lots of messages asking why you haven't reported for active duty yet, but I told him you still needed to heal."  
  
Surprised, Duo turned to Heero. "You aren't back on active duty yet?" Part of him wanted to jump for joy, while the other part wondered what the catch was. Finally, his thoughts settled on cautious optimism. /Maybe there's some hope for him yet./  
  
Seeing some of Duo's tension leave him, Quatre went on more cheerfully, "I told J that you needed some more time off, that you were finally taking Duo's advice and paying some attention to your health."  
  
Heero's face muscles twitched. "You told him that?"  
  
"Well, yeah." Quatre hesitated, seeing the look on Heero's face.  
  
Trowa jumped swiftly to Quatre's defense. "If you object to the messages being sent to J, you should contact him yourself. Normally, you'd have been in touch with him long ago."  
  
Heero got up abruptly, knocking his chair over. He tried to stride furiously out of the room, but his body rebelled and he ended up walking slowly and painfully, anger still plain in every movement.  
  
After he had left the room, Duo turned to Quatre. "Look, Quatre, I'd appreciate it if you didn't let J contact you anymore."  
  
"But why?" Quatre wanted to know. "If there's a mission one of us needs to go on for Heero. . ."  
  
"One of the other doctors will let us know," Duo said. "But I think something weird is going on between Heero and J right now, so it might be a good idea to just stay out of it."  
  
Quatre nodded uncertainly, and Duo felt like a hypocrite, since he had no intention of taking his own advice.  
  
tbc  
  
AN: Oh man, I think I just made Quatre look like an air head in that part. I didn't mean to! Really! 


	6. Chapter 5

Part 5  
  
Heero was sitting in front of his laptop when Duo came into the room. He wasn't typing, although the computer was on, just staring blankly at the screen. His whole body was tense, and he didn't turn to look at Duo as he entered.  
  
"So, have you sent J a message yet?" Duo asked challengingly.  
  
Heero looked up sharply, but he didn't say anything. Their gazes met and held, a silent challenge that ended when Heero broke eye contact and shook his head.  
  
"Good," Duo said, feeling relieved. "That old guy's starting to give me the creeps. You need to stay away from him for a little while and actually learn to have fun for a change." /You need to learn that your life is yours to decide, not his./  
  
Heero snorted. "You've said that a million times."  
  
"Yeah, well, you haven't started listening to me yet, so I'll just have to keep telling you," Duo said, grinning at his partner in an effort to lighten the mood. His eye fell on the laptop in front of Heero. "I keep telling you to spend less time on your laptop, but you don't, so I'll just have to do something about it!" So saying, he grabbed the laptop off Heero's desk and ran with it.  
  
"Duo!!" Heero's bellow of rage followed him as the other pilot gave chase.  
  
"Ha!" Duo crowed as he took shelter on the other side of Heero's bed. "I finally got the great Heero Yuy to engage in a childish game of tag."  
  
"When I catch you, I'm not just going to tag you," Heero growled as he attempted, despite his injuries, to jump over the bed to get at the longhaired boy. "I'm going to kill you!"  
  
Duo's reply was cut off by a beep from the laptop under his arm. Gleefully, he plunked it down on the desk, shooing Heero away from it. "Uh uh, Mr. Perfect Soldier; you're on vacation, remember? I'll take this one." And he opened the message.  
  
The message was short. Startlingly short. It said simply, "Execute Operation Apoptosis."  
  
Hearing Heero's startled gasp, Duo turned to look at him. The Japanese pilot had gone white and he was backing away from the laptop as though it was a poison-fanged monster ready to bite him. His back finally hit the wall, and he slid down it to land on the floor, curling in on himself. His shoulders shook.  
  
Duo's mouth thinned and his face turned grim. With slow deliberation, he turned back to the laptop and deleted the message. Then, closing the laptop, he moved across the room to kneel by his partner. Hesitantly he put a hand on Heero's shoulder. "Heero? Are you okay?"  
  
"I don't understand," Heero whispered, more to himself than to Duo. "Is it really that bad?" His eyes were blank, staring not at the present, but at the future planned for him. Duo couldn't stand that stare, so he grabbed Heero by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug, pressing the other boy's face against his chest so he wouldn't have to look into those blank eyes.  
  
At first, it was like hugging a tree trunk. Heero was unresponsive. His whole body was tense, and he seemed incapable of relaxing. He didn't even turn his head so that his nose and mouth were no longer pressed against Duo's shirt and he could breath more easily. His stillness worried Duo, who reacted the way he normally did whenever the silence got to him. He started talking.  
  
"Look, just ignore the old coot. I mean, who says you have to obey _every_ mission sent to you? Personally, I think the whole doctors giving orders system is overrated. I mean, what do they know? Sure, they're great engineers, but they're a thousand kilometers away in space; they don't know what's going on down here."  
  
Heero said something, but the words got lost in the dark cloth pressed against his face. Shifting his hold a little so that he could see Heero's face again, Duo asked, "What was that?"  
  
"They know," Heero said softly, "because I told them." His eyes were focused on the present again, but he still looked hopeless.  
  
Duo was confused. "You told them what?"  
  
Heero's next words were so soft that Duo almost had to read his lips to catch them. "About you."  
  
Duo almost let go of Heero in his surprise. "Me? What did you tell them about me?"  
  
Heero seemed to deflate, slumping against Duo and bowing his head to avoid meeting Duo's eyes. Duo could have sworn that his cheeks were faintly red, but dismissed it as his imagination. After all, everyone knew Heero never blushed.  
  
"I. . . well, I just. . . I asked. . ." he sputtered.  
  
For the life of him, Duo couldn't figure out what had so embarrassed Heero. "Spit it out," he said.  
  
"I asked J for love advice," Heero blurted.  
  
Duo had thought that nothing Heero could say would have surprised him, but he'd been wrong. His jaw dropped, and he almost laughed, but catching sight of Heero's face, he managed to check that impulse. Still, he couldn't keep the incredulity out of his voice when he asked, "You asked _him_?! Why? You could have just asked me."  
  
Heero hung his head. "No I couldn't."  
  
"Why not? Were you embarrassed?"  
  
Heero nodded.  
  
"About what?"  
  
Heero sat in silence, and Duo's brain suddenly fit the pieces of what he'd been saying together with an almost audible click. "Waitaminute! You asked J for love advice. . . about me?!"  
  
Heero refused to look up or meet his eyes, but he gave the smallest tilt of his head to indicate that Duo was right.  
  
"Did you really think I would make fun of you or sneer at you if you came to me?" Duo asked, not sure whether to be indignant or sympathetic. "I mean, sure I joke around, but not about something as serious as. . ." he swallowed nervously as he considered the implications of the word for the first time, ". . .love."  
  
"But there's something wrong," Heero said in a small voice. "I've never felt like this before. J thinks there's something wrong too; that must be why he's sending me that mission. He told me emotions were deplorable distractions."  
  
"So he wants you to kill yourself over a distraction?" Duo said, disgust evident in his tone.  
  
Heero seemed too lost in thought to realize that Duo knew what the mission code name meant. "I'm tainted now," he said. "I'm not perfect."  
  
Duo pulled Heero away from him and finally gave in to the impulse to shake him violently. "Don't tell me you actually bought that crap! Of course you're not perfect! You never were! Hell, none of us are! If falling in love makes you tainted, then I am too, and you don't see me blowing myself up, do you?! Don't you dare tell me you want to die just because you're not perfect!"  
  
"I don't," Heero whispered. "When he first gave me the orders during the battle, I couldn't see anything. I thought we were surrounded and that the order came because we had no other choice but to self-destruct. But then you got mad at me because you said there was no need for it. I started to wonder why he sent me the orders, and if he might do it again."  
  
"And that's why you've been avoiding contacting J, right?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
Duo relented and pulled Heero back in close to his body. It was hard to stay angry at him when he was really trying to disentangle himself from the spider's web J had him caught in. To break training and fail to carry out an order. . . Duo doubted that Heero had ever done such a thing before in his life. However, he was certainly doing it now. Nearly fifteen minutes had passed since they had received the message, and Heero was still alive and breathing.  
  
"What a horrible mission to send someone," Duo mused aloud. "Why even have such a thing?"  
  
"For the greater good," Heero said. His eyes glazed over slightly, and in a monotone voice, as though he were quoting from a science lesson, he said, "The elimination of cells by apoptosis is a necessary function. Lack of this process can lead to deformities in the organism such as webbing between fingers and toes."  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Webster. That doesn't explain why _you_ have to blow yourself up."  
  
"Because it's better for everyone if I were to die rather then let myself or my Gundam fall into OZ's hands."  
  
"So the whole operation name is basically one big metaphor." Duo snorted. "I think J missed his calling in life; he should have been an English major."  
  
He wasn't sure whether it was the joke, or his whole reaction in general, but Heero finally started to relax against him. He was curling inward against his chest, as though Duo could shield him from J and his orders. In a small timid voice, so unlike his usual voice that Duo almost doubted that it was Heero speaking, he asked, "What should I do now?"  
  
Duo had to give him the most honest answer he could. "I don't know."  
  
tbc 


	7. Chapter 6

Warnings: I actually achieve some shounen ai in this part.  
  
Part 6  
  
It seemed that sleepless nights were becoming the norm for Duo. Heero refused to admit that he wanted company, but Duo noticed that he twitched at the smallest noises, and he was far too tense. Heero was afraid, even if he refused to vocalize that fact, and Duo was reluctant to leave him alone. So he found himself spending another long night in Heero's room, lying in a sleeping bag on the floor.  
  
Rolling over, Duo looked up at the bed and noticed that Heero was still awake. His eyes were wide open and he stared, almost without blinking, at the closed laptop on his desk. Duo shifted uncomfortably. Seeing Heero so afraid of an inanimate object was unnerving, to say the least.  
  
Standing up resolutely, Duo snatched the laptop off the desk and left the room with it. After stuffing it into a convenient hall closet under some blankets to muffle any sounds it might make, he marched right back into the room. Heero had rolled over to watch him leave. Now, in the absence of his computer, his eyes fixed firmly on Duo.  
  
"Relax," Duo said tersely. "J's not God. He can't reach down and smite you as you sleep."  
  
Heero sighed. "It doesn't seem like that sometimes. He's had absolute control over my life since Odin died."  
  
/Who's Odin?/ Duo thought, but didn't ask aloud. Instead, he sat down on the bed next to Heero and reached down to rub Heero's arm soothingly. "Well, he doesn't now," Duo said softly. "You're old enough to choose your own fate."  
  
"I don't know how," Heero murmured. He turned softened, slightly imploring blue eyes on Duo. "Help me?"  
  
For a moment, Duo was utterly stunned. Heero Yuy was asking him for help?  
  
/Heero almost never accepts help, let alone asks for it./  
  
Then he was delighted that Heero Yuy was asking _him_ for help.  
  
/Well, what d'ya know? Get him away from the mission and the computer and he actually starts acting like a person. I might just be on to something here./  
  
"Well," Duo said aloud, carefully choosing his reply, "first you need to decide what you want in life." He slide down so that he was half sitting, half laying next to Heero, and leaned down so as not to miss the softly spoken reply.  
  
"I think I've found one thing," Heero answered, his eyes looking up to meet Duo's.  
  
What followed was inevitable. One moment his face was close to Heero's and Heero was looking at him intensely, and then the next minute his eyes were closed and his lips were pressed against Heero's. There were no tongues involved, but Duo didn't really care. It was pretty good for a first kiss.  
  
When Duo finally moved his head back and broke the kiss, Heero was still looking up at him with a strange mixture of hope and fear. "I probably shouldn't have done that," he said softly.  
  
"I think it's a good thing you did," Duo replied.  
  
Heero smiled at him very briefly. To Duo, who had never seen Heero really smile before, he was absolutely dazzling. Not wanting to miss this rare opportunity to talk to Heero while he was relatively relaxed and open, Duo settled himself down and got comfortable.  
  
"So," he said. "Tell me about this Odin guy."  
  
~*~*~  
  
Blinking sleepily, Duo opened his eyes, only to get blinded by sunlight. He was lying on Heero's bed on top of the covers, just as he had fallen asleep the night before after talking to Heero for hours. His sleeping bag lay forgotten on the floor. Heero was tucked in beside him, still soundly asleep. Getting up quietly, Duo stole out of the room and into the kitchen to get breakfast. Heero didn't so much as twitch when he left.  
  
Upon entering the kitchen, Duo was met with a glare from Wufei, a blank look from Trowa, and the slightly reproachful gaze of Quatre. He sighed. "Okay, what did I do this time?"  
  
"Duo, where were you?" Quatre asked. "We couldn't find you."  
  
"I spent the night in Heero's room," Duo said, and braced himself, half expecting them to rebuke him for his involvement in Heero's affairs.  
  
"I knew it," Wufei growled contemptuously. "Hiding from us again."  
  
Duo blinked. "Hiding?"  
  
"Trust you to vanish when it's your turn to make breakfast," Wufei continued.  
  
Duo stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Is that what this is all about? Geez, you guys don't really want me to make breakfast anyway. Do you really feel up to coffee and burnt toast? Why not get someone who can actually cook?"  
  
His eyes moved almost automatically to Trowa, who looked resigned to his fate. "I'll cook, but you have to do the dishes," Trowa said.  
  
"Deal," Duo said. "Thanks, Trowa, you're a real pal."  
  
"And if you use soap on the cast iron pan again, I'll skin you alive," Trowa continued, his voice completely without inflection. "Or I'll just make you answer to Cathy, since it's hers."  
  
The thought of an angry Catherine made even Duo shudder. "Okay! Okay! Don't threaten me with scary chicks!"  
  
There was a snort from the doorway, and Duo turned to see Heero standing there. "Hey, good morning, Heero."  
  
"Yuy, why in the world did you let Maxwell stay in your room last night?" Wufei demanded in an almost accusatory manner.  
  
". . ." Heero froze, and the classic deer-in-the-headlights look came over his face. Mentally, Duo smacked himself on the forehead. Of all the bad timing. . . While Duo was thrilled that Heero seemed to be developing an attachment to him, he realized that Heero was probably having a hard time accepting it. The kiss the previous night had gone against his training, and although he'd been willing to break training in private, acknowledging that he'd done so in front of his teammates was another matter entirely.  
  
Fortunately, before Heero could panic in earnest, Wufei went on. "I can't believe you gave in to Maxwell's childish whims and let him stay just so he could avoid cooking this morning."  
  
"He was doing your digestion a favor," Duo snapped. "And who are you calling childish?"  
  
Quatre interceded before a brawl could ensue, and by the time he got Duo and Wufei apart, Heero was his normal, inscrutable self again. Only by looking closely could one see that he was still too tense.  
  
Breakfast was a relatively cheerful meal. Trowa had fixed omelets, which the other pilots devoured enthusiastically. Afterward, Duo was indeed forced to do the dishes, which he did with a token amount of whining. The day began in what was for them a normal manner. It was only after the food had been consumed and the dishes done that the problem cropped up.  
  
Quatre had pulled out his own laptop, and was typing merrily away. He started checking his messages, and a look of consternation came over his face. "Hey, Heero," he said. "J still seems to be trying to get in touch with you."  
  
Heero's head jerked up, his eyes flashed with fear. But the look was gone in a moment, and his face hardened again. He began to stride purposefully towards Quatre and the laptop. Seeing this, Duo almost panicked, and began moving hastily to intercept him.  
  
Since his back was turned to them, Quatre didn't notice Heero bearing down on him. He continued to speak. "What is this Operation Apoptos. . ."  
  
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! click, click, click, click.  
  
Despite the fact that he had run out of bullets, Heero showed no signs of stopping until Duo finally reached him and jerked the gun out of his hand. Quatre had gone white, and his eyes moved nervously back and forth between Heero and the hapless piece of machinery that had once been his laptop. It sat on the desk, completely nonfunctional, and sporting several new bullet holes.  
  
"Heero," Duo said firmly. "Calm down."  
  
The hand that had held the gun dropped back to Heero's side, and his eyes began to look a little more sane. "Mission not accepted," he said.  
  
Trowa finally regained his ability to speak. "You raving lunatic!" he snarled, with more emotion in his voice than was customary. "You nearly shot Quatre just to make a statement about not accepting a mission?!"  
  
"You also just destroyed the only other working laptop in the house aside from your own," Wufei pointed out.  
  
Trowa rounded on him incredulously. "Is the laptop all you're worried about?!"  
  
"Chill, Trowa," Duo said sensibly. "He's not worried about Quatre because Quatre's all right, right Quatre?"  
  
Quatre swallowed a few times before managing a small, "I'm fine."  
  
"See?" Wufei said. "And as for the computer problem, we'll all just have to use Heero's."  
  
Heero twitched.  
  
Duo sighed resignedly. "I'll just go and get it out of the closet, shall I?"  
  
"The closet?" Wufei asked. "What is it doing in there?"  
  
"I hid it in there last night."  
  
"And you wonder why I call you childish," Wufei remarked with a slightly teasing smirk.  
  
"Hey," Duo defended himself. "There were extenuating circumstances."  
  
And he left to fetch the laptop before anyone could ask him what those extenuating circumstances were.  
  
Tbc  
  
Author's note: Don't expect any more parts of this soon. With the way my classes are going right now, I may never write again. (Well, at least not until the end of the quarter.) 


	8. Chapter 7

::A large pile of textbooks, papers, pencils, pens, and the like is seen. Suddenly, the pile quivers. Then it shifts as a hand gropes its way up. Finally, a battered looking girl emerges from the pile::  
  
Rapunzel: I live! I live! HAHAHA!  
  
::A noise comes from above her and she looks up.::  
  
Rapunzel: Uh oh.  
  
::A rain of textbooks comes showering down on her, burying her again. After a moment, the pile shifts and she emerges again, with less enthusiasm this time.::  
  
Rapunzel: Remind me. Why did I think taking more classes this quarter was a good idea?  
  
Part 7  
  
After the incident that sent Quatre's laptop to an early grave in the trash pile, life seemed to settle down for the Gundam pilots. Heero was not at all pleased that the entire household had to be allowed to use his laptop, but since he had no better alternative, he suffered in silence for the most part, grumbling about it only occasionally.  
  
Heero may have hated the arrangement, but Duo found it rather useful. It gave him an opportunity to delete any messages that contained the word "apoptosis" in them. He didn't try to hide the fact that he was eliminating these messages from Heero; on the contrary, he usually made a point of getting rid of them while Wing's pilot was watching him. Heero never commented, only grunted, and went on about his business, but Duo got the feeling that Heero was rather relieved not to have to deal with the problem himself. Neither one of them knew what to do about the situation besides ignoring it. It seemed to work, for after about a week of his messages being ignored, the emails grew fewer in number, and then stopped altogether.  
  
Even though he was no longer being constantly confronted with orders to remove himself from the world of the living, Heero still seemed jumpy to Duo. As they sat side by side together in Duo's room (for Heero would not drop his guard until they were alone either in his or Duo's room, preferably with the door locked), Duo said, "J can't actually _force_ you to obey him, can he? I mean, if you ignore the mission orders, what's the worst he can do?"  
  
"I don't know," Heero admitted. "I've never disobeyed before."  
  
That brought Duo up short. "_Never_?! After all this time?! I mean, how long have you been with him anyway?"  
  
Heero sighed. "A long time."  
  
"And you've _never_ disobeyed orders before, or failed to carry them out completely? Even just a little bit? Jeez, I make deliberate mistakes all the time!"  
  
"Deliberate mistakes? How can you make a deliberate mistake? What did you do?"  
  
"Oh, I only blew up the ammunition supplies instead of the whole base once. And I'm always sending in my mission reports later than G asks for them. He doesn't seem to remember that I have to have enough time to get someplace with a secure line before I can send them, especially after infiltration missions. I'll bet it drives him nuts, but he never really gets on my case about it."  
  
"Late mission reports are different. At least you complete your missions," Heero pointed out.  
  
"Are you saying that you want to complete Operation Apoptosis?" Duo asked incredulously.  
  
"No," Heero said.  
  
"Good," Duo said. "Then stop worrying about it all the time."  
  
"I'm not worrying," Heero answered, sounding almost childish.  
  
Duo snorted. "Sure you're not," he muttered sarcastically, but decided to leave it at that.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Beep! Beep!  
  
"I thought I said I didn't want to hear another beep out of you!" Duo growled, stalking towards the offender: Heero's laptop.  
  
"Duo," Wufei pointed out mildly from across the room, "you do realize that you're talking to an inanimate object, don't you?"  
  
"Yeah. So?"  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes skyward. "Nothing. I guess I should know better than to try reasoning with you."  
  
"Darn right," Duo muttered, only half paying attention. His attention focused on the laptop and the new message it displayed. "I swear," he muttered under his breath. "If this is one more 'Operation Apoptosis'... I thought we were finally over those things."  
  
"Operation what?" Wufei asked, having caught some of Duo's mutterings.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Wufei shrugged and went back to his reading while Duo opened the message, fingers poised to delete it. He paused, read through the message, then read through it again as if he couldn't believe it the first time.  
  
"What is it?" Wufei asked.  
  
"I don't believe it. It's a real, honest to goodness mission."  
  
"And about time to," Wufei muttered. "Who's it for?"  
  
"Heero of course." Duo frowned. "But he shouldn't be off on a mission yet. He's still recovering."  
  
"He looks alright to me," Wufei said.  
  
"That's because you don't look closely enough. He still walks with a slight limp, and his upper body strength isn't what it used to be either."  
  
Wufei paused briefly to wonder why Duo had taken the time to notice such details, especially since Heero was trying to give everyone the impression that he was fine, but he decided not to ask.  
  
Duo was in motion, typing a reply to the message. Curious, Wufei peered at him. "What are doing? You're not refusing to let Heero take the mission, are you?"  
  
"I'm taking it for him," Duo said without looking up. "Someone's gotta do it, after all. Better me than him."  
  
"Shouldn't you clear that with Heero first?"  
  
"Nah, it'll be fine. It's just hitting some base at Terfield, pretty close by. Anyway, Heero's asleep, and I don't want to bug him." He closed up the laptop. "I should be back sometime tomorrow. Tell the others for me, 'kay?"  
  
"Sure," Wufei said.  
  
"Thanks, Wu-man, you're the best."  
  
"Maxwell, for the hundredth time, my name is not Wu-man!"  
  
But Duo was already out the door and didn't hear him. A few minutes later, the rumbling from the hanger told Wufei that he was gone.  
  
"Well, it'll be awfully quiet around here," Wufei muttered to himself as he went back to his book.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Duo's departure seemed a little abrupt to Wufei, but then most of Duo's actions seemed abrupt to him. So he didn't kick up a fuss and didn't expect anyone else to. However, some time after Heero woke up, the lack of Duo's presence finally registered on the Japanese pilot. After not being visited by the boisterous pilot, he began to grow restless and wandered aimlessly through the house, eyes constantly seeking a long braid and a bright smile. His fruitless search eventually led him to the living room, where he found Wufei still sitting on the couch and the laptop still open on the table. It was the sight of the laptop that sent the first stab of uneasiness through him.  
  
"Where's Duo?"  
  
"Mission," Wufei said shortly.  
  
"Mission?" Heero repeated. "When?"  
  
"This afternoon. You were asleep when he left."  
  
"Who sent the orders?"  
  
"J, I believe. You can check if you're really so interested." Wufei flicked a hand at the laptop, indicating that the answers could be found there.  
  
Pulling over a chair, Heero sat down in front of the laptop and started typing. A few minutes of digging on his part unearthed the message Duo had received. Reading over the parameters, Heero frowned. "It's off," he muttered.  
  
Fingers flying over the keyboard, Heero typed up a message to Professor G, asking him to confirm the orders being carried out by his pilot. Then, pushing back his chair, he got up and stalked across to the end of the room. Upon finding a wall in his path, he growled, turned around, and then stalked to the other end of the room, where the process was repeated.  
  
Wufei still sat on the couch observing with mild surprise. Heero Yuy was actually pacing. "What's going on?" he asked.  
  
"I'm waiting for a reply."  
  
"From who?"  
  
"G."  
  
Seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere without asking lots of tedious questions for which he would get one word answers, Wufei fell into silence and let his comrade pace. There was very little else for him to do, and the back and forth motion continued for the better part of a half an hour.  
  
The laptop beeped. Instantly, Heero sprang towards it, crossing the room in a bound to avidly read the message sent to him. Then, with a snarled curse, he ran out of the room faster than Wufei would have thought possible for someone still recovering like he was.  
  
Curious as to what had provoked such a reaction, Wufei got up and crossed the room to the laptop. As he read the message on the screen, his eyebrows rose in surprise and alarm.  
  
01,  
  
I had no notion that such mission orders were sent, nor do I condone them. The Terfield base, while a definite threat, is too heavily defended. I would not send orders to attack it unless all five of you were to strike together. Please inform my pilot of this and call him back to await further orders.  
  
-G  
  
"What in the world is going on here?" Wufei muttered. His eyes rose to trace the path Heero had taken. Yuy knew. He knew and he was withholding information from his teammates. With a determined gleam in his eyes, Wufei stalked out after him.  
  
It wasn't very hard to figure out where the other pilot had got to. In his frantic haste, Heero had left a trail of open doors through the house, too rushed to stop and close them. Wufei followed him out of the house and to the hanger, where he stopped in astonished fury.  
  
"Yuy, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"  
  
Heero was already half way up the winch line to Shenlong. "Wing's still with Howard!" he called. "Damn it, I'll bet he planned it that way!"  
  
Later, Wufei would pause to wonder exactly who Heero meant when he said "he", although Duo seemed a likely choice. However, at that moment, he didn't care. He was too busy screaming obscenities at his fellow pilot, ignoring the fact that Heero had climbed into the cockpit and closed the hatch, and therefore could no longer hear him.  
  
With a muted roar, Shenlong came to life, stepping away from the wall and moving to leave the hanger. As the thrusters fired up, Wufei was forced to retreat to a safer distance. His fury was intensified by the realization that there was nothing he could do to stop Heero now short of stealing Quatre or Trowa's Gundam, which would have been a very bad idea. After all, who knew what retaliation they would devise for him.  
  
"Yuy!" Wufei screamed. "Nataku will punish you for this!"  
  
His cry was lost in the roar of the thrusters as his Gundam took off.  
  
Tbc  
  
Alright, I finally managed to get out another part. And knowing my muse, I'll start getting the urge to write once every five hours since all my midterms start next week. @.@ I'm gonna die. 


	9. Chapter 8

Rapunzel: Ah, finally! The end is near! After a few bars of chocolate...  
  
Muse: ::rubbing her head and glaring resentfully:: And a few thumps to the head...  
  
Rapunzel: I... er... persuaded my muse to help me write my anthro paper, and now that's turned in, I can just kick back and relax.  
  
Muse: Wonder how long this will last.  
  
Rapunzel: ::kicks feet up, leans back in her chair, and looks smug.::  
  
Muse: Wait for it... Wait for it....  
  
(Rapunzel's eyes begin to wander around the room.)  
  
Muse: Here it comes. Three, two, one...  
  
Rapunzel: ::eyes come to rest on the calendar:: #@%*! Finals start in less than a week!  
  
Muse: ::smirking:: Suddenly, I feel so much better. And so much more productive...  
  
Extra Warnings for this part: I really suck at writing fight scenes, even when they involve Gundams.  
  
Apoptosis By Rapunzel  
  
Part 8  
  
Heero had two thoughts pounding through his brain. The first was that he was several hours behind Deathscythe and was therefore unlikely to reach Duo in time. The second thought was more irrational, but just as persistent.  
  
/When I get my hands on that longhaired idiot, I'll kill him!/  
  
On some level, he knew he wouldn't really, that he couldn't bring himself to perpetrate that level of violence on his fellow, but the death threat made him feel marginally more in control. It always helped to have a plan, and at that moment, that was the only one he had.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Duo had decided that J was evil.  
  
Actually, he had reached that conclusion quite a while ago when he had first learned what Operation Apoptosis was. Now, however, he was adding "sneaky" to the list of uncomplimentary adjectives he associated with the man.  
  
"That bastard set me up!" he growled out loud.  
  
He didn't bother to remind himself that it had, in fact, been Heero who had been set up; that only made it worse. Of course, it was partially his own fault that he was here. He resoundingly cursed his own foolishness; of course he ought to have expected a trap.  
  
Another blast made Deathscythe shake, and his hands tightened on the controls reflexively. He was in serious trouble, and he knew it. This base was beginning to remind him of the hydra, a creature he'd read about in a myth book once. For every Leo that he cut down, two more seemed to appear. He was out of ammunition and had been for quite some time; the only weapon left to him was his scythe, and he knew it was only a matter of time before that was lost too. The Leos were drawing in a circle around him, and he couldn't even manage to cut his way out and retreat.  
  
As another blast made his Gundam reel ominously, he allowed himself one small, comforting thought. /At least Heero isn't here./  
  
~*~*~  
  
Wufei would have been very unhappy if he had heard all of the things Heero was muttering about his Gundam.  
  
"Can't this stupid, hulking, pathetic excuse for a mobile suit get there any faster?!"  
  
In fact, Shenlong was hardly a pathetic excuse for a mobile suit- none of the Gundams were-, but after having piloted Wing for so long, Heero was finding Wufei's Gundam more than a little irritating. His chief source of irritation was that it wasn't built for traveling nearly as fast as Wing was. Now, when speed might be essential if he ever wanted to see Duo alive again, this difference was particularly frustrating.  
  
"Dammit, Duo, if you're dead when I get there..." He trailed off, leaving the threat unfinished. If Duo _was_ dead, a possibility he didn't even want to consider, threatening him would be useless.  
  
Duo had to know it was a trap by now, he reasoned. Possibly, he had already drawn off and retreated, in which case, Heero's presence wasn't going to be needed. However, it was equally possible that he hadn't realized the danger until it was too late.  
  
Heero's hands squeezed the controls convulsively. A mantra ran endlessly through his mind. /Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!/  
  
~*~*~  
  
Duo's eyes ran over the circle, desperately seeking a weak point, a way out. No dice. He was completely hemmed in with little hope of escape. Although his scythe was still barely operational, he had taken several hits to that arm of his Gundam, and the mere idea of trying to use it to break out of a ring of over fifty Leos was ludicrous. That left only one option.  
  
His hand twitched towards the self destruct button. "Oh, you guys are going to love the glory, aren't you?" he growled through gritted teeth. "You can tell everyone you helped take down a Gundam pilot. Well, I'll be sure to make this a victory you won't forget!"  
  
So saying, he slammed his hand down on the button.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"Shit!" he yelled. More curses quickly followed the first. Why did his damn self destruct button never work when he needed it to? Heero's always worked, even when he didn't need it to.  
  
Speaking of Heero...  
  
"Duo!"  
  
The cry came only a second ahead of the blast of fire that tore a gap in the circle of Leos. Looking through the flames, he caught a glimpse of Shenlong.  
  
/Wait a minute. That's Wufei's Gundam, but it sounded like Heero's voice./  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing, taking my mission without asking me?!"  
  
/Yup, it's definitely Heero in there./  
  
"What the hell do you think _you're_ doing following me?!" he shouted back. "Now we're both stuck here!" Already, he could see the Leos regrouping, moving to hem in the newcomer as well.  
  
Heero must have seen it as well. There was a moment of silence on the other end, and Duo could practically hear Heero's mind working, calculating numbers and odds. He didn't need statistics to tell him that they were both in trouble now.  
  
"If I self destruct, I'll take out enough of them for you to escape."  
  
Duo's blood ran cold. "No! Don't you dare!"  
  
"It is necessary..."  
  
"No! I didn't struggle to keep you alive just so you could die on me now! If anyone's going to self destruct, it'll be me!"  
  
"But yours doesn't work."  
  
"How would you know?"  
  
"Because I disabled it a while ago."  
  
Duo's jaw dropped for a moment in shock. Then his anger returned. The sheer nerve of the guy... "You son of a bitch!" he shouted. "How dare you do something like that?!" He was so angry he could hardly see straight. That presumptuous little...  
  
"Because I love you."  
  
Duo's jaw dropped for the second time in less than a minute. Heero had implied as much before, but he had never actually said the words. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  
  
"Heero, you have to worst timing known to man."  
  
"I know," Heero said as he swung the dragon arm around and fried several more Leos.  
  
Once again, Duo began looking for a way out. They both had to come through this alive, dammit. He couldn't self destruct, and he wouldn't let Heero do it. Looking around the base, he noticed a fuel tank he had been aiming for before his ammunition had run out. An idea sprang into his head.  
  
"Heero!" he called. "I'm out of ammo!"  
  
"I gathered as much," came the reply.  
  
"But you're not! Shoot that fuel tank over there!"  
  
"Duo, it'll blow this whole place up."  
  
"That's the idea, yes."  
  
"But it'll blow _us_ up too."  
  
"So? So would self destructing, and you were willing to go for that a minute ago. We've got a better chance of surviving this anyway."  
  
There was a moment of silent hesitation, and then Heero calmly said, "Locked on target."  
  
"Here goes nothing," Duo muttered as he began to retreat, lashing out at any mobile suits that got in his way.  
  
He heard Heero make the shot an instant before the whole base was awash with orange and red flame as the fuel tank exploded. Leos disintegrated before his eyes, and those that weren't destroyed began to beat a hasty retreat. Then the flames engulfed Deathscythe, and his external sensors relayed nothing but static. Deathscythe trembled with the force of the explosion and he felt it pitch forward. His poor 'Scythe had apparently had enough for one day.  
  
"Shit!" he yelled again, lacking the concentration to come up with any more original curses. He tried frantically to right himself, but the force from the explosion was too much. As Deathscythe fell, he was thrown forward and his safety harness broke. His head connected with the viewing screen, and everything went black.  
  
tbc  
  
Author's ramblings: Okay, I'm evil. I admit it. But, I've noticed that I get more comments when I leave cliffhangers like this. Therefore, if more people commented on my stuff, I wouldn't have to end my chapters like this. (Hint, hint) I love my logic. 


	10. Chapter 9

Here it is! The long awaited Part 9! Very long awaited, I know... ::pauses as she remembers all of the people who threatened to kill her if she didn't post the next part _soon_:: Ehehehe... This counts as soon, doesn't it? ::edges backwards:: I'll just be hiding if you need me. ::Considers hiding under the bed, then remembers that that's PlaidDragon's hang out. Heads for the closet instead:: I hope I fit. I knew should have cleaned this thing out earlier...  
  
Apoptosis By Rapunzel  
  
Part 9  
  
His head stung. That was the first thing he was aware of. The second was that something cold was dabbing at the hurt area, making the stinging even worse. "Cut it out," he muttered irritably.  
  
"Duo? Are you awake?"  
  
It took him a minute to recognize the voice as Quatre's. Opening his eyes, he expected to see the blond pilot hovering over him. Instead, he was greeted by Heero, holding a damp and slightly reddened washcloth and looking surly.  
  
"Hold still," Heero said. "I need to clean your head wound."  
  
Duo tried to hold still, but as Heero began to dab at the bloody cut on his head, the stinging sensation returned full force, and he squirmed. "Dammit, Heero, that hurts!"  
  
"It's supposed to," Heero said. "Pain is your body's way of telling you there's something wrong."  
  
"That's a funny thing to hear from a guy who's really good at ignoring his own pain."  
  
Heero had nothing to say to that. He continued cleaning the cut without comment. Quatre, on the other hand, had plenty to say.  
  
"Duo, what were you thinking, running off and doing something dangerous like that?! You're lucky you weren't killed! When Heero showed up dragging Deathscythe, we thought you had been!"  
  
"Well, if I'd known how much trouble it was going to be, I wouldn't have gone," Duo replied.  
  
"Now, Quatre," Trowa said, and Duo jumped, having not known he was in the room. "Duo's going to be fine."  
  
"I hope he doesn't need stitches," Quatre murmured, peering anxiously at Duo's head.  
  
"Trowa's right," Duo said, waving him away. "I'll be fine."  
  
Quatre backed away from the bed to give Heero more room, and Trowa put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on," he said. "Let's give him some space. Don't worry; I doubt his hard head took much damage." He quietly but firmly steered Quatre out of the room.  
  
"Oh, gee, thanks!" Duo called after him sarcastically.  
  
Trowa ignored him.  
  
Heero got up, moved over to the door, and quietly closed it, locking it firmly. Now assured that they were alone and likely to remain so, he ran his hand along Duo's face, tracing the jaw line. "You worried us," he said.  
  
"I'm sorry," Duo said. He tried to sit up, but Heero planted a hand firmly in the middle of his chest, pinning him down. "Stay still, I'm not done yet," he said.  
  
Duo submitted, since there was little else for him to do, and subsided. "So how much damage did my thick head actually take?" he asked.  
  
"You probably have a mild concussion," Heero answered calmly. "And the cut, of course. It bled a lot, but it's not as bad as it looked at first."  
  
"And the rest of me?" Duo persisted. "Since you won't let me move, I'm having trouble getting a damage assessment."  
  
"Nothing life threatening," Heero said. "Bruises. Lots of them. You're going to have an imprint of your harness in black and blue for a few weeks."  
  
"Then why was Quatre so worried?"  
  
"Deathscythe didn't look so good when I brought it in," Heero answered coolly.  
  
Duo groaned. "Oh no. How much damage did I do?"  
  
Heero grunted. "I didn't look. I sent it straight off to Howard."  
  
"You didn't look?" Duo repeated incredulously. Heero always did damage assessments, however brief, on the Gundams after a mission.  
  
"I was a little more concerned with the pilot than the Gundam," Heero said, sounding slightly defensive.  
  
Duo beamed up at him. "Oh, Heero, you're such a sap sometimes."  
  
It was difficult to tell, since the lighting was dim, but he could have sworn he saw Heero's cheeks go faintly pink. "I am not," he said, sounding surly.  
  
Duo just smiled knowingly at him.  
  
"So," Duo went on, "I noticed that Quatre and Trowa were both in here hovering. Where's Wufei?"  
  
Heero looked faintly guilty. "He's not speaking to me."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I borrowed Shenlong without his permission, and didn't bring it back in the best of condition."  
  
Duo's eyes widened in alarm. Given Heero's tendency of understating things, "not in the best of condition" probably meant "one step away from scrap metal." "Are you okay?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
Duo wasn't sure if he should accept that answer, but decided that Heero looked fine to him, and he shouldn't push. He lay still and let Heero tend to the cut. Once that was finished, Heero moved to leave the room, but Duo sat up and caught his wrist.  
  
"Sit down," he said, tugging Heero back towards the bed. "We should talk."  
  
Heero looked faintly apprehensive, but sat down. "What about?"  
  
"About J."  
  
Heero flinched.  
  
"I think," Duo went on, "that it would be a good idea if none of us accepted orders from him anymore."  
  
Heero looked startled. "But that would mean I couldn't fight anymore!"  
  
"No, it just means you get your mission orders from G instead, and when you bust Wing, you take it to Howard for repairs and upgrades. That's what we should have done from the beginning."  
  
Heero considered it. "Wouldn't G want to know why I was taking orders from him instead of J?"  
  
"He's a smart man; I'm sure he'll figure it out," Duo replied airily. "So, what do you think? It would mean you'd get to work with me a lot more often."  
  
"Okay," Heero said.  
  
"Yay!" Duo beamed at him. "And you know what else this means, right?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"It means we'll probably end up having to share laptops!"  
  
Heero's facial muscles twitched slightly.  
  
"Oh, come on," Duo said, seeing the reaction. "It won't be that bad. I mean, just think, you've had time to get used to it already. I've been putting my grubby little paws all over your precious laptop for the past several days anyway."  
  
Heero's face didn't lighten. If anything, his scowl deepened.  
  
Duo smiled back at him winningly. "Just think of it as penance for messing with other people's things."  
  
"I don't mess with other people's things," Heero growled.  
  
"Oh no? I'll bet Wufei would say otherwise."  
  
Heero did have the grace to look slightly sheepish. He didn't answer, but instead rose and turned towards the door.  
  
"Hey," Duo said. "Where do you think you're going?"  
  
"To get you something to drink," Heero answered calmly.  
  
Duo motioned him back. "Stick around. I'm not thirsty."  
  
"Duo," Heero said patiently, "head wounds bleed a lot. We have no idea how much blood you've lost. You need fluids."  
  
"Screw the fluids," Duo said, sitting up and reaching out towards Heero. "Dammit, I just risked my life trying to save your butt, and now I want you here so I know you're alright."  
  
"You seemed to be the one whose butt needed saving," Heero reminded him with a snort, but he moved back and sat down on the edge of the bed. Gently, taking care to avoid the bruises he knew were on the other's torso, he pushed Duo backwards to lie down again. Duo caught a handful of his shirt and pulled Heero down to lie next to him. Only once the other pilot was fitted against his side with his head resting on Duo's shoulder was Duo content.  
  
"That's better," he said.  
  
Heero squirmed a bit to get comfortable, then subsided, closing his eyes and relaxing. For a while the two lay in silence together.  
  
"Heero," Duo said after a while, "I understand your reasoning and all, but I would appreciate it if you would never "fix" anything on my Deathscythe again, even the self-destruct button."  
  
Heero didn't bother to open his eyes. "Consider it payback for tampering with Wing."  
  
Duo sputtered indignantly. "When did I do that?"  
  
"I don't know when," Heero answered. "But I know that you did. Otherwise Howard would have had it back to me a long time ago."  
  
Duo shut his mouth. Damn. Busted. "It was for a good cause," he muttered sulkily.  
  
"That's what I told myself as I was fixing your self-destruct mechanism."  
  
"Touché," Duo murmured. "How about we both agree not to mess with each other's Gundams without permission."  
  
"Deal," Heero said, still not opening his eyes. "As long as you promise me not to use the self-destruct button once it's fixed."  
  
"Hey!" Duo said indignantly. "That's a little hypocritical coming from you!"  
  
"What if I promised not to use mine in future unless it's absolutely necessary?"  
  
Duo turned his head to stare searchingly at Heero, but his eyes were still closed. "Would you be able to keep that promise?"  
  
"Of course," Heero said. "If I'm taking orders from G, there won't be any more Operation Apoptosis."  
  
"True," Duo said. "I won't if you won't."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Silence filled the air for a few more moments.  
  
"Heero?" Duo said.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"You meant it, didn't you? What you said when you told me you'd messed with the button?"  
  
"Of course," Heero said as though it was obvious. "That's what got me into this in the first place, isn't it?"  
  
"If I tell you I love you too, will you say it again?"  
  
Heero opened his eyes to find Duo looking at him very intently. "Yes."  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Do you think Duo's going to be okay?" Quatre murmured, stopping by the door to Duo's room.  
  
"Quatre, he's fine," Trowa said calmly. "He's got a head wound and bruises, nothing that's going to kill him. Anyway, I'm sure Heero will take very good care of him."  
  
"Well, it can't hurt to check," Quatre said, hand on the knob. He twisted ineffectually for a moment, then turned to Trowa, looking perplexed. "It's locked."  
  
"Like I said," Trowa said, "I'm sure Heero will take good care of him. Very good care."  
  
"Oh. Oh! Well, then we should leave them alone."  
  
"Yes." Trowa put his hand on Quatre's back and guided him gently away from the door. "Why don't we go talk to Wufei again? He has to see reason and let go of his grudge eventually."  
  
"Not a bad idea," Quatre said, turning and walking down the hallway.  
  
Trowa lingered a little longer, pausing to press his ear against the door. A small smile crossed his face. "Very good care indeed."  
  
Owari  
  
Yes! Finally! I finish it! Well, except for the epilogue, but that can wait. Thanks to everyone who commented; it really made a difference! There was a while there when I thought that I would never finish this thing, but after all the encouragement I got, I felt rather obligated to work on it. 


	11. Epilogue

Finally, it ends! I know, I know, it sure took me long enough.  
  
Disclaimer: Most people can come up with amusing, original ways to write their disclaimer. Well, I am not most people, so I'll keep it simple. I don't own the concept of Gundam Wing or any of its characters. Just the mere idea that I might be making money doing this is laughable. Warnings: shounen ai, angst, violence  
  
Apoptosis  
By Rapunzel  
  
Epilogue  
  
"Come on."  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"No."  
  
"For me?"  
  
"Absolutely not."  
  
"You know, you're going to have to talk to him sooner or later."  
  
"Later then."  
  
"You're upsetting the team dynamic. Won't you just apologize to him?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You're both stubborn idiots!"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Duo paused in his tirade. "You know, Heero, that's the closest thing to a 'yes' that I've gotten out of you yet."  
  
Heero just crossed his arms over his chest and looked stubborn.  
  
"If you admit you're being an idiot about the whole thing, why won't you just apologize to Wufei? He's not going to talk to you until you do."  
  
"I didn't admit I was being an idiot," Heero said, scowling. "And I won't apologize to him because I'm not sorry."  
  
"Well, aren't you at least a little remorseful that you took his suit without asking?"  
  
"Not really," Heero said with an indifferent shrug. "I needed a mobile suit. Wing wasn't available; Shenlong was. I don't see why he's so upset."  
  
Duo noticed that Heero made no mention of why he had needed the mobile suit. Now that the whole event was over, Heero rarely if ever brought it up, as if loath to be reminded that Duo might have died.  
  
Duo thought for a moment, then sighed in a defeated manner. "I give up. You're impossible, you know that?"  
  
"Hn."  
  
"He's not going to forgive you without an apology of some kind," Duo mused, looking thoughtful. "You absolutely refuse to give him a verbal one, but maybe there's another way of doing it."  
  
Heero looked apprehensive. "What did you have in mind?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
~*~*~  
  
Later that day, shouting could be heard coming from the hanger.  
  
"Taking parts from Deathscythe to repair Wing was bad enough, but I refuse to let you take parts from _my_ Gundam to repair one that isn't even yours!"  
  
Heero looked unrepentant. "You'll have to take Deathscythe in to Howard anyway. I don't see why we don't just take Shenlong in too."  
  
"I told you," Duo said wearily, "it's because this is an indirect apology to Wufei. You banged up his Gundam, so now you get to fix it."  
  
"And the parts?"  
  
"Take them from Wing if you can't wait."  
  
Heero growled. "I just got Wing back."  
  
"Exactly," Duo said carelessly. "That means it's sure to have all the parts you need."  
  
Heero looked murderous.  
  
"Heero," Duo said grinning, "I'm joking."  
  
Heero relaxed slightly, but he glared on with undimmed intensity.  
  
"You know," Duo said, "you really don't take a joke very well. We're going to have to work on that."  
  
"Hn."  
  
~*~*~  
  
Wufei was grudgingly pleased when he saw his Gundam. In fact, he went so far as to say that he no longer minded Heero's impromptu borrowing of his property. Heero, who had already expressed the opinion that the cause had been a just one and that Wufei was simply being a prick, greeted this remark with his customary, "Hn."  
  
"Well, that went well," Quatre remarked. He had been watching the whole thing from the sidelines with Trowa.  
  
"It darn well better have," Duo muttered. "After all that work we put in on his Gundam, he had better be placated. We even went through the trouble of making it look nice too." Hearing Quatre's snicker at this comment, he snapped, "Hey, it wasn't that easy! Do you have any idea how hard it was to get rid of the scorch marks?"  
  
"You know, Duo," Trowa said quietly, "Heero was the one Wufei was mad at. You technically didn't have to help out."  
  
"Of course I did," Duo scoffed. "After all, Heero 'borrowed' Shenlong so he could go rescue my stupid ass. I had to help out."  
  
"Of course you did," Quatre said sweetly, exchanging a meaningful glance with Trowa.  
  
"You're doing it again," Duo muttered irritably.  
  
"Doing what?" Quatre asked, blinking wide blue eyes at Duo.  
  
"That whole talking without words thing. Like there's something I don't know, some joke I'm not in on."  
  
Quatre and Trowa exchanged another, slightly amused glance, but just as Quatre opened his mouth to answer Duo, he was interrupted by a loud cry of "MAXWELL!"  
  
"Oh, for goodness sake!" Duo exclaimed. "What have I done this time?"  
  
Wufei had just gotten down from inspecting his Gundam, and he was striding towards Duo with a murderous expression on his face. "Maxwell!" he thundered. "What the hell did you put in the pilot's chair?"  
  
"What?" Duo sputtered. "I didn't do anything."  
  
"No," Heero agreed seriously. "He didn't." So saying, he began to walk out of the hanger, snagging Duo's sleeve as he passed to drag the other after him.  
  
Wufei goggled after them, seeming unable to comprehend the implications. It wasn't until they had left the hanger and were headed towards the house that his enraged cry of "YUY!" echoed after them.  
  
"You know what, Heero?" Duo said, grinning wickedly. "I think I'm a bad influence on you."  
  
"Hn." Was that a smile tugging at the corner of Heero's mouth? After careful consideration, Duo decided that it qualified as more of a smirk.  
  
"So," he said casually, "what did you put in Wufei's pilot seat?"  
  
The smirk grew slightly. "Peanut butter. To pay him back for being a jerk about it."  
  
"Peanut butter?" Duo repeated incredulously. "What a waste! I'm almost disappointed. You should have used chewing gum; it lingers longer."  
  
"Chewing gum?" Heero said dubiously.  
  
"Yeah. Haven't you ever chewed gum before?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Oh, Heero, you've been missing all the finer points of life," Duo lamented.  
  
Heero raised one eyebrow. "Chewing gum is a finer point of life?"  
  
"Heero," Duo said, "you've got a lot to learn."  
  
/And I've finally got the chance to teach you./  
  
Owari  
  
Woohoo! Another multi-part fic finished! I think this might be the first time I've managed to finish more than one for any given series... 


End file.
